¶ AN ADMONITION TO the Town of Calais. When as I call to remembrance how many ways God hath sought, England strayeth from the gospel, and Calais folloveth the same. to induce the to repentance (O Calais, thou town of mine education) & on the other side thine indurate rebellion, & hypocritical dissimulation in following the footsteps of thy mother England, I cannot but with tears lament thine eminent destruction, Lam. 1. as the Prophet jeremy bewailed the subversion of his city jerusalem. God hath fought almeants to call Calais to repentance. For what thing hath god done in times passed to other counntries & towns to call than to repentance, that he hath nor performed the like unto thee, & to thy murmuring mother, with a great deal more? Mat. II. Hath he not (as the proverb pronounceth) piped unto the pleasant songs, & yet thou haste not rejoiced? Luc. 7. Hath he not also played unto the morning notes, & yet thou hast not lamented? O what a melodious harmony was the swear song of his holy gospel in thine ears, coupled with the since re ministration of his holy Sacraments, & that under the authority of a most virtuous & innocent king? Hon calais hath rejoiced at the prechige of the gospel. But how dideste thou rejoice thereat? For sooth in the liberty of the flesh e & nor in the freedom of the spirit. For under the title of that spiritual melody, the carnal man rejoiced in his carnality: the covitouse, in his covetousness: the Extorsioner, in his extorsion: The wiced make the gospel a clock for their wichednes the ambitious, in his ambition: the drunkard, in his drunkenness: the Proud, in his Pride: the Adulterer, in his Adultery, in making the same a cloak for their impiety. Where as they should have rejoiced in a spiritual joy lauding the lord that so lovingly in the mids of darkness & ignorancy had visited them with the light of his gospel. But when as God save that this his benignity did no thing move thy mother, nor yet thee, to rejoice in the praise of his name, God for in: gratitude taketh away his gospel & sendeth papistry. & in the amendment of thy life. Then thought he it high time to take from you the pipe of mirth & consolation, & to send the morning song of sorrow & lamentation. For in stead of his gospel he hath sent you papistry: in stead of his holy Sacraments, the blasphemus mass, For a christian Kïge, god giveth an Idolatrous Queen. 3. Reg. 18. & unsa ℣ the sacrifice of the bredden god: & in stead of a most christian king, a most wicked & idolatrous Queen. A very jezabel, that is, a friend to Baal & his priests, & an utter enemy to god & his people. Yea another Athalia, that is, an utter distroier of her own kinerede, 4. reg. 11. kingdom & country, a hater of her own subjects, a lo ℣ of strangers, & an unnatural stepdame both unto the & to thy mother England. This is the morning song that the lord now singeth unto thee, O thou unkind calais. But how dost thou morn there at? Forsooth even as before thou diddest rejoice. For as before thou diddest convert thy joy from a spiritual into a carnal rejoicing, even so now where as thou shouldest mourn in spirit, in bewailing thy sins, ingratitude & infidelity, in repenting & tourninge unto the lord, who seeketh all means to reclaim the. Thou mournest in the flesh with the Gergesites rather for the loss of thy hogs, Mat. 8. Mar. 5. Luc. 8. thine earthly commodities, which Satan in his tyrannous instruments hath, & his like to take a way from thee, them for the departure of Christ, his word & sacraments. calais mourneth for fere of temporal plagues & not for her sins as did king Achab for the death of Naboth, Luc. 19 Esa. 5. Thou mournest rather for the temporal plagues which pnsently thou feelest, & greater forscest to follow, than for any desire thou hast of the kingdom of god, & the florishinge prosperity of the same, which now is taken away for thine ingratitude, & for not knowing the time of thy visitation. And therefore most justly hath the lord broken down the hedge of the English church and made it a pray to the romish bore, & his sweinishe papistical pigs, which now unmercifully wroteth up the roots & branches thereof, in defiling it with the stinking dung of dissaivable doctrine, & in stead of sweet smelling flowers doth plant therein the odious weeds of idolatry & hypocrisy. The which so plentifully springeth up at this present, that or it be long, it willbe thorough ripe for the sickle of the lords indignation. Apoc. 14. For the tars of sathan with in these &. years sown in the & thy mother, Mat. 13. hath brought forth more plenty of increase, than did the good seed of the gospel in 7. years before. O lamentable alteration. Who ever would have supposed (O calais) that thou being so perfectly planted in the plentiful knowledge of the Verity, calais in stead of grapes bringeth forth thorns. Math. 21. Esa. 5. & so sensibly hedged about with the sincere understanding of the gospel, as a profitable vine to ylde plenty of good fruit, that thou wouldst have brought forth such thorns & briars as appeareth in the at this present? Who ever would have thought that Calais containing so many earnest gospelers in outward appearance, The doings of idolaters & hypocrites. that there should have bin seen in it, such gadding to the mass, such mumbling in the priests ear, such gaping after a strange god, such gadding a procession, such haunting of papistry such dissimulation in Idolatry, such regestringe of names in the book of the Beast to the open renouncing of Christ, as is & hath been used in the of late, to the great dishonour of god, the grievous sorrow of thy friends, & to the no little rejoicing of thine enemies. But it standeth with equity that such as have no pleasure to walk in the shining light of the gospel, that they do stumble & fall into the palpable darkness of error & ignorantie. For how can it otherwise be chossen, whom Christ forsaketh, Satan fourth uvith pocesseth. 1. Pet. 5. Mat. 12. but that if the light do leave us, darkness must needs overwhelm us: & if verity once forsake us, error must needs possess us: that is, if Christ do relinquishe us, then must Satan needs season upon us. For he is that toring lion that seeketh continually to devour. Who, if he once find the house of our hearts clean swept & empty of godliness, them returneth he with 7. devils worse them himself, & so shall our end be worse than the beginning, the which thing is all ready ℣ ified in a great many, 1. Pet. 4. who being once clenced, do with the sow, wallawe themselves in the stinking puddle of papistry again. wherefore (my dearly beloved) I beseech the in the bowels of jesus Christ (whose wealth I wish for as mine awne) that thou do not ressayve the grace of god in vain, neither yet be ashamed of his gospel, where of in his mercy he hath made the a partaker, from the which thou semeste now to slide a side by dissimulation, by playing coal under candelstick (as the proverb goeth) by running with the hare & holdige with the hound, The great dissimulation of calais, by going unto god in thine heart & unto the devil in thy body, by saying one thing with thy mouth & thy king the contrary with thy mind, much like unto the Israelites in the time of jesabels' reign, who coveting to halt on both sides, with their hearts to serve God, 3. Reg. 18. and with their bodis to serve Baal, according to the queens proceeding. They strayed from the narrow path of gods savour, into the broad way of his displeasure, Mat. 7. provoking him thereby to plague the land with sterilite & barrynes so that he kept rain & dew from the earth for space of in. 3. reg. 17. years and vi. mounthes. Compare that story with thy time, & state of thy mother England, & thou shalt find than disagreeable in no thing but only in this, that god's plagues are not yet so fully performed upon the & her, as fell upon them, but do now first of all begin to appear & most certainly will follow, all though not in the same form, yet to the like end, if she & thou contineve & persevere in the like iniquity as you have begun. A comparison betwixt Israel and England. ʒ. reg. 18. ʒ. Reg. 21. For as in the time of jezabels' reign the prophets of the lord were slain in Israel, so are they now in England: Then just Naboth lost her viniarde by oppression, so doth many righteous men now in England their lands & pocession: The people of god then in Israel were forced to flee into strange countries, ʒ. Reg. 19 so are they now in England, Other were imprisoned & most cruelly entreated, so are they now in England. ʒ. Reg. 18. Other some were feign to creep into holes & caves, running from post to pillar, living in most painful penury, glad to have bread & water, how many in England at this present are compelled to do the like, experience teacheth in all parts of the land. The Rulers, the Magistrates & multitude dissembled both with God & the Queen, even so do they now in England. The lord then reserved so me of the nobility in Israel, as Obadia & other, who showed themselves ℣ y favourable unto his servants, so hath god likewise reserved some of the nobility of thy mother England (althonught they be but few in number) as wilds to preserve his people from the tyranny of Antichrist in his bloody members (as thou calais canst sufficiently witness the same). No thing doubtige but that they shall find favour with Obadia in the sight of Elias & jehu, 3. Reg. 18.4. Reg. 9.10. when as the lord shall stir them up to overthrow the Auters of Baal, and to destroy his idolatrous priests, with their Princesse-Iezabel. As Israel & England agreeth in sins so are they like to agree in punishment. This far agreeth England with Israel, and as they agree in gravity of sins, so (I fear me) they are like to agree in gravity of punishment. For the lord is the same eternal, immutable God, that he was then, favourable in mercy unto the penitent & just in judgement unto the wicked. The plagues of Israel in the days of jezabel were these, dearth, famine, 2. Reg. 17 18.20.22. and mortality of man and beast, war, battle, and invasion of the enemy, to the great spoil of the land, and slaughter of the people, the king slain, 4. Reg. 10. the Queen destroyed, and all their posterity consumed from the earth. Prayer very needful for England. This was the Viale of the lords indignation in those days powered forth upon Israel for the sins of the same. Let us pray that the like or rather greater do not happen unto England, whose sins weighed in the balance of God's justice, are no doubt found a great deal heavier. And thou (Calais) let the state of Samaria in those days be an admonition to move the to repentance: 4. Reg. 6 Let Samaria be a vuarninge to calais. which for the sins before expressed, was not only besegede with the power of a most puissant prince, but also so extremely oppressed with famine, that the people therein were compelled, to eat their own dung, & the filth & dung of their beasts & birds: yea, the mothers were compelled to eat their own children, such was the woeful wrath of god upon them for their sinful dissimulation & declining from god to Idolatry, as witnesseth the holy scriptures. 4. Reg. 6 Let that example (I say) O Calais move the to throw down & humble thyself under the mighty hand of god in confessing thy sins, & bewailige thy weakness, that so soon haste been overblowen with so little a blast of tempration: calais is gone back from the gospel unto papistry. That so soon haste go ne back from the known truth & pure religion of god, unto that polluted puddle of papistry by dissimulation, where as thy duty had been be sore many other (considering thine ancient gospelick profession universally known) to have stand steadfast in the truth, haviuge for thy manifest confirmation therein, the most certain word of god, the testimony of thine own conscience, the exäple of a great number of constant martyrs, & the continual admonition of many godly men, now fled into strange lands, to save their lives for a pray until the determinate time, & in the mean season to be profitable unto you at home. Wherefore as thine unfeigned friend & lo ℣ ●euen such a one as for thy preservation could be contented to taste much misery) do earnestly exhort the to i'll unto repentance, The oneli remedi to preserve Calais from distrucnion, is repentance. the only infallible remedy, able not only to restore thy health, but also to preserve the from destruction which is eminent over thy bead. Nota. For what kingdom or country, City or town, man or woman was there e ℣ that being infected with the like sickness of sin, Gen. 7.8.19. 4. reg. 17. Dan. 5. With Saxons. Danes. Britons, and now with Spaniards. did not perish therein, if this resaived remedy did not prevent the same. For want of this remedy, was not the first world drowned? Samaria destroyed? Babelon in one night subverted? And thy mother England thrice with strangers infected, & now the fourth time like to be desolated? If this remedy of repentance do not speedily prevent it? On the other side where as this remedy hath been in time resaived, the danger being ne ℣ so great, yet hath it all ways delivered from destruction. As the examples of lerusalem, Berulia, Ninive & many other do evidently declare, which only by this means, as testifieth the scriptures, removed the plagues pnsently purposed against them. O that thou hadeste the like grace to i'll unto this remedy in this thine approaching peril: which although thou (blinded with the love of thyself, carnal security, Other pnsaives that Callaies seeth not. & confidence in thine own strength) dost not now presaive, yet thy friends, who with a more vigilant eye watch over thy wealth do evidently behold speedily to approach. wherefore (I say) in time rise up from thy sin. Cease from thine idolatry. Throw away the mantle of thine hypocrisy. Wash thy hands in innocency, & be contented rather to suffer affliction with the saints of god, them with ease to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season, the end where of willbe thy utter subversion. For truly thou that haste refused to drink of the lords cup of tribulation with his holions, thou shalt most certainly taste of the dregs of destruction with the wicked: where of thy mother England is like shortly to be a partaker. For there is no token that is the foregoer of destruction, All tokens which are the foregoers of destruction fulfilled in england but it is apparent in her. For if the subversion of gods pure religion then crectinge up of idolatry & superstition, the raging reign of traitorous tyrants, the daily decay of the prudent & honourable, the tyrannous cruelty of the clergy, Esa. 3. the dissembling impiety of the laity, the abondant shedding of innocent blood, the cruel imprisoning, banishing & persecuting of the servants of God. If these signs (I say) have all ways been the forgoers of ruin & destruction, as the stories of the holy scriptures doth evidently witness, then let not thine unsaightful mother think to escape the same, in whom at this present all these tokens are evident. And especially the universal shending of the innocent blood of the constant witnesses of jesus Christ now flowing through out every Shire, City and Town crying for speedy vengeance: The which with out all doubt is coming, even as it were with in a kenning. when England is plagued let not calais thine to escape free. And dost thou think (O calais) thou that art the daughter of so wicked a mother (if thou be found partaker of her impiety, that thou shalt not taste of her plagues? yes truly: And that peradventure with the first. For commonly when as God purposeth to punish the parent, he beginneth with the child. And therefore thy lot is so much the nearer, for that thou dost not only lie in the way of the enemy as a butt against his arrow, calais is coveted of many. but also forty strength, beauty and commodity thou art desired of many. And that thing (as sayeth the proverb) with much a do is preserved, that is of divers coveted and desired, calais is in the custody of a woman. especially when as the custody thereof is in the hands of a woman, who with great difficulty can restrain any jewel that she hath from him, whom she loveth, he craving the same. Nota. Why the hinge loveth the Queen. And dost thou thynck that he will not crave, who loveth her only for her treasure and jewels, and not for her person? And supposeste show that he will not ask thee (the next jewel unto the best, calais the next ievell unto the best. and lying so much for his commodity) that hath all ready attempted to have all together? yes be thou sure of it. The bragging boast of the Spaniards. The Spaniards can boast & make their avasite that if their king had thee, he would both bridal France & rule England at his pleasure. And therefore he seeketh but opportunity, to obtain, that which his heart so much desireth. The french King watcheth but for opportunity to recover calais. On the other side the French kin that which his ancestors of long time have lost. And when for that purpose was there ever better occasion ministered than at this present? For thy mother the staff of thy defence, England at this present sca●●t able to help callais is now so debilitated & weakened as well in worthy Captains & valiant Soldiers, as in money, monitions & victail, that she is scant able to defend, & relieve herself: much les than to succour the in thy necessity. Thus art chow environed with enemies on every side, calais vaunting friends, is environed with enemy. without having any assured friend to lean unto. wherefore I admonish the to consider thy present state, before it be to late, & in to what eminent danger thy sin hath brought the. But whether now wilt thou turn the for they preservation? psal. 137. The strength of calais is to weahe for her defence, if the lord do not ꝓ teete thesa. me. Unto thine own strength? Alas in vein. For in vain doth the watchman watch the city, if the lord do not keep the same. And how shall he keep thee, thou that hast made no conscience to forsake him the wholesome water of life, in digging up again the filthy Cestoms of papistry & Idolatry. wilt thou turn the for help unto thy worthy Governor & prudent counsailourst In vain also. callais is lily to lose her friends. For they shallbe taken away from the. Wilt thou require aid of some of the no bilite that seem to favour the. Even they peradventure shall betray the. For how should they love thee, that pass not of thy mother, but seek all possible means to alley nate her from her lawful unto foreigners & strangers. Finally wilt thou seek for secure of thy ancient Soldiers & worthy warriors, of thy loving commons & wealthy merchants? That is also in vain. For with what hearts shall they desende the (their town, the staff of their earthly commodities) that have showed themselves so faint hearted in standing to the ℣ ire of god's word, the shoranker of their eternal salvation. As easily will their suffer themselves to be threatened & psuaded to resign the o ℣, as they have all ready conceaded without any apparent danger, to relinquish the pure religion of god, & the freedom of the gospel, to be come the bond slaves of antichrist the Pope. For truly such as have showed themselves fait hearted in the one, cannot be valiant in the other: except such as have settled their sovereign felicity on earthly things, whose attempptes commonly the lord doth not prosper. For such as for the safeguard of their lives do deny him, & yet for the preservation of temporal things do hazard the same, they do thereby plainly declare; how little they regard heaven & how much they are addict unto the earth. Who commonly (such is the just judgement of God) in seeking to save their goods, do lose their liffes, in that they have no thing esteemed the life of the Soul in respect of the earthly pleasures here. But whether now (O Calais) wilt thou turn the in this thy ne extreme necessity? Even unto the Lord God thine only sovereign remedy: Who only in rhyme of need is able to preserve and deliver thee: and now only able, but also most willing, so thou turn the unto him. For he hath promised by his prophets, that if we turn unto him, Zach. 1. ler. 3. joel. 2. How calais ought to turn unto the Lord, Esa. 1. he will turn unto us, to show mercy upon us. wherefore O thou backslydinge Town turn unto the Lord thy God with all thy heart, from thy wicked ways, forsake thy sins, cast away thine abominations, and then shalt thou live, and the wrath of God shallbe turned into mercy. Turn unto the lord thy God (I say) in repentance, Mat. 3. in fight, in hattred of thy sins, in confessing of thine offences, and in the amendment of thy life. Turn unto the Lord thy God with the cities of Ninive and Betulia, jonas. 3. judith. 8. and then will the Lord behold the with mercy, and cover the under the whynges of his defence. He willbe thy Buckler, thy spear and shield. He will be thy fortress, thy wall and bulwark. Al thine enemies shall not prevail against the. They may besiege thee, they may subtly conspire to betray thee, but all in vain. psal. 31.91. For the Lord will be thy watchman. Yea, he himself will ring the alarum, Sound the trumpet, Strike up the drum, & advance thy standard against thine adversaries, in moving thine heart into thine own defence, and assist the in the same, as a thing lawful both by the laws of God, Nota the laws of the Land, and instinct of nature. For thou art not so far sworn to obey, as by obedience to show thyself a Traitress to thine own country: hovu far calais is subject to the Queen. Neither art thou so subject to this Queen, as for her sake, to with draw for ever thy subjection from the crown of England, and the rightful inheritours of the same. Wherefore take heed: and make the Lord of hosts be times thy friend, and then thou nedeste not to pass who is thine enemy. god will bewray the attempts of traitors. For he will bewray the dissembling devices of thy feigned friends (but secret enemies) as he did the traitorous counsel of Achitophel, against his servant David. 2 Reg. 17 For it is he that turneth the devices of the ungodly into their own destruction. Wherefore get the be times under his defence, and thou shalt not need to fere the power of all thy adversaries. But if thou despise this friendly admonition, calais is sie he, but she feeleth it not. persuading thyself that thou art in a better case, then in deed thou art, as the most part of worldly persons do, even in the extremity of death persuade unto themselfeslonge life: Thou shalt surely perish in thy sins. Believe not those flattering Pharisees that cry out in every pulpit, The plagues of England vuil come over to calais as did the swetingsiones, peace, peace, plenty, plenty, when as famine & destruction is at hand. Which now beginneth to appear in thy mother England & will shortly approach unto thee, all though thou canneste not foresee the means, how, nor the time, when. For of this be thou sure that God doth never leave such impiety. as is in thee, long umponished. The way to avoid it I have showed thee, if now through thy negligence thou perish, If callais now perish, it is not for vaunt of warning thy blood be upon thine own head. For I am free from the same. Say not but that thou art warned. From Exile the .12. of April. 1557. R. P. Wicked people bringeth a City into decay: but wysse men set it up again. Proverb. 29.